


The Framework

by daisyqiaolianmay (skinman)



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Complete, Father-Daughter Relationship, Found Family, Framework Universe, Mother-Daughter Relationship, also, i love that their names meld into each other like that, just using the framework idea as a jumping off point, later on, philindaisy, this is not at all canon - or going to be canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-21
Updated: 2018-04-05
Packaged: 2018-09-26 04:02:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9861635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skinman/pseuds/daisyqiaolianmay
Summary: "What if The Framework really had fixed every regret to perfection? What if it had given them everything they ever wanted? With no catch."_It wasn’t real? Her life, the one she remembered so well, wasn’t real. Melinda May stared up at the ceiling in horror, lain back on a bed in the med bay, her fists clenching and unclenching.“Honestly it’s miracle your brain’s handling the duplicity of your memories so well. Though I am worried about your stress levels, your blood pressure is pretty high.” Simmons nattered on, “I’m going to need regular scans, of course, and I’d suggest talking therapy. You need someone to help you piece through what was reality and what was fiction, we don’t want you developing a personality disorder.”“It’s all real to me.” May muttered bitterly.





	1. Part 1

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to Alina @marvelthismarvelthat for her help on this!
> 
> To be noted: This Fic is just based off the Framework and was in part written before the events of Self control and as a consequence...  
> \- In this Daisy was the one who got replaced and plugged into the Framework, not Fitz.  
> \- Mace is still alive.  
> \- The base was not destroyed.  
> \- Fitz and Jemma didn't have to go into the Framework themselves to get everyone out. Fitz engineered a way to do it without that.  
> 

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May and Daisy struggle with their conflicting memories.

Daisy imagined this must be what it was like to be born; torn out of a warm, safe haven to face a cold unfamiliar world. Blinking, she grimaced, her vision blurred and dim. Her senses were slow to awaken. She felt deft fingers tug the restraints from her body, taking away the only thing keeping her upright, she swayed. Strong hands held her steady as she crumpled softly onto the ground. There was a pinch at her inner elbow as the IV was removed, leaving her arm aching heavily. Slowly her sight began to return as she blinked, she turned away from the bright lights up above to shield her sensitive eyes.

“What happened?” She attempted to say, but what came out was little more than a croak.

“Here. Have some water.” A kind, earnest, familiar voice ordered, opening a water bottle under her nose. Daisy knew that voice, she just... didn’t have a face or a name.

Looking up Daisy regarded the face of the kind not-stranger, freckled and sweet with doe-eyes that shone with knowledge.

Daisy took a sip of the water, wetting her throat so she could speak. “Who...?” She managed.

“Daisy?” Jemma Simmons’ face fell. “You don’t remember me? I’m Jemma... Jemma Simmons. We’re... old friends.”

Then, Daisy saw them, in her mind’s eye, memories of a life she recognised as her own, yet it was all foreign. She and Jemma have a shared history. This woman is like a sister to her.

“Jemma. Yes.” Daisy muttered.

But... that wasn’t possible. She remembers so vividly her life, and she had never met this woman before. Daisy tried to think straight, and found only duplicity. Her most recent birthday, she could see it, sat in the kitchen at home while her mother and grandmother squabbled over the best way to make Bao Buns, her grandfather quietly reading his newspaper. She’d felt so... complete. Then, she saw another scene, brick walls and dim lighting, a sparsely iced cake with a single candle. A crowd gathered around her singing as loudly as possible. The woman, Jemma, she was there, she’d said, ‘ _Happy Birthday, Daisy.’_ It had been the best birthday ever.

“I don’t...” Daisy gritted her teeth.

“May. Hey, May.”

Daisy’s head snapped round to face the equally strangely familiar man who’d uttered her name. But, he wasn’t talking to her. Slumped in his arms was the limp form of Melinda May.

“Fitz, we need to scan her brain, now. She’s been in there so long, she could have permanent damage.” Simmons scooted over to take a closer look at May.

Daisy’s breath was ragged now, her throat dry once again as she muttered softly, “Mom...?”

 

* * *

 

_The Framework - April 1996_

_“There must be someone more qualified than me? I have no idea what to do with a kid.” Melinda May stressed. She was stood bolt upright, shoulders tensed, arms folded._

_Avery shook her head slowly from where she was sat on the couch. “It’s not rocket science, Agent May, you feed them, you clothe them, you make sure they’re clean.”_

_“If it’s so easy why don’t you do it?” May hissed, only half kidding._

_“Director Carter specified that she could only be cared for by a specialist.” Avery answered in a matter-of-fact fashion. “You’re the perfect fit; You’re not only a specialist, you have level 5 clearance, an extra bedroom, and quite by luck you and Daisy could pass for related if necessary.”_

_“I do want kids, one day, but this is not what I had in mind.”_

_“It’s not permanent. She’ll get relocated within the next nine months.”_

_Something about that sentence caught on May’s heart, softly tugging. This little girl hadn’t spent longer than nine months anywhere in her entire life? That was... awful._

_This time when May spoke her voice was softer, “What did you say her situation was?” She stared at the floor, waiting for a response._

_“Daisy was retrieved from a massacred village in the Hunan province of China as a baby, the only survivor, took us years to discover her origins. She’s the daughter of two powered individuals, but her mother died when she was a baby and her father’s serving multiple life-sentences in the Fridge’s Psych facility.”_

_“She’s powered?”_

_Avery shook her head, “She seems perfectly average, but there’s always been that question mark.”_

_“You think she’s a time bomb?”_

_“We think she could be, potentially, very dangerous.”_

_That was a ‘yes’ then._

_“If you expect me to take her out if she-”_

_“Agent-”_

_“I won’t do it.” May said through gritted teeth. “I could never, ever do that.”_

_“No one wants that Agent May, and I’m quite sure it won’t come to it.” Avery pursed her lips, standing up she indicated her intention to leave. “I’ll be in touch very soon.”_

It wasn’t real? Her life, the one she remembered so well, wasn’t real. Melinda May stared up at the ceiling in horror, lain back on a bed in the med bay, her fists clenching and unclenching.

“Honestly it’s miracle your brain’s handling the duplicity of your memories so well. Though I am worried about your stress levels, you blood pressure is pretty high.” Simmons nattered on, “I’m going to need regular scans of course, and I’d suggest talking therapy. You need someone to help you piece through what was reality and what was fiction, we don’t want you developing a personality disorder.”

“It’s _all_ real to me.” May muttered bitterly.

“Well... yes, of course, that’s the problem.”

May tightened her fists till her knuckles went white, her face like stone, impenetrable. It hurt to hear Jemma call her life, her good life, a ‘problem’. She kept silent, her teeth gritted behind pursed lips, continuing to stare upward in an attempt to keep the tears at bay. Jemma said that she was dealing with the situation well, but May knew she wasn’t at all, not emotionally. Melinda May knew what a broken heart felt like, and she knew that in this moment her heart felt crushed; there was a dull, empty ache in her chest where it had once felt full. To have everything, everything she had ever wanted, and to have it stolen from her so cruelly, she could feel the fallout of this blow surging through her with every breath she took.

“It’s late. I’ll leave you alone to get some rest. I’m going to leave the door unlocked, but please, May, promise me you’ll stay put and get some sleep?” Jemma implored the older woman, as she removed the strap of the blood pressure monitor from her arm.

May just nodded stiffly.

Simmons paused a moment, despairingly regarding May’s tense form, before turning away to switch off some of the lights. Stepping out of the room Jemma glanced back over her shoulder. May hadn’t moved, hadn’t spoken, instead the agent just stared woefully through the glass wall into the next cubicle, where one agent Daisy Johnson slept fitfully with frown lines marring her pallid face.

Jemma couldn’t help but feel she was missing part of the puzzle. She’d checked-out every agent to be subjected to Radcliffe’s experimentation. No one seemed to find it easy to talk in detail about their experience, however, it was only May and Daisy who had yet to say anything at all. With that thought Jemma made her exit, leaving the pair to sleep.

Not a couple of minutes later May lifted her legs off the sheets and slid out of bed. Breaking her promise to Jemma, bare feet against the cool floor of the lab, she moved to the door. Making no sound, she slipped out of her glass cubicle and into Daisy’s.

The girl was curled up in one corner of the mattress, her knees brought up to her chest.

May couldn’t help herself, couldn’t see the harm in it, so she reached out, trailing gentle fingers down the side of this face she knew so well. She remembered this face, she remembered how it had been all those years ago, years that had never been, round with youth and graced with a smile that held no reservations. Melinda May was sure she knew this face better than any other on the planet, better than her parent’s faces, Andrew’s, Phil’s, even her own.

Daisy relaxed a little at her touch, or so it seemed to May, though it could just be wishful thinking. She thought of what she might say if Daisy woke up. She considered what Daisy might say back.

Simmons had said that Radcliffe’s realities had been created with each subject in mind, each reality was built to give the subject exactly what they wanted. The Framework had stimulated the entirety of Melinda’s brain, stem to cortex, in a way that created vivid, rapid dream sequences in which the May could impose control over her actions, the likes of which could not be experienced during a normal sleep-wake cycle, rewriting memories as it went. Simmons had described it like it was a video game, an immersive, realistic video game. Simmons probably thought that was a good comparison, but having lived it, Melinda knew it couldn’t be compared to a game, or a dream. It was too real. It could only be compared to reality.

Radcliffe had given Melinda what she’d always wanted in a way she’d never realised she could get it. In a way, he’d cursed her. Now she felt like a mother to a girl who only ever think of her as ‘Agent May’. A girl who would never see May as her fake Daisy had. Radcliffe had done this to her, he’d seen her deepest desires, given her a family, knowing that it was all going to be ripped away from her as soon as someone pulled the plug on The Framework.

How could she remember it so well? Surely if it was a dream it should seem hazy around the edges, she shouldn’t be able to remember specifics, but she can... so well. May remembers what Daisy wore on her twelfth birthday, how it had felt when Daisy had graduated the Academy, what she’d ‘accidentally’ left behind when she’d moved out, and how she’d kept leaving things behind just so she had an excuse to come home, to the point where ‘Hi, I’m home, I forgot my book/CD player/black jeans.’ became a euphemism for ‘I missed you, Mom.’

_The Framework - January 2012_

_‘Okay, got it!”_

_“Good. You want pancakes?” Melinda offered, putting three onto a plate because she already knew Daisy was going to say yes._

_Daisy strode into the kitchen, wadded up jeans in hand. “Did you make them?” She asked with a grimace._

_“Don’t start. I cooked them, but no, Phil made up the batter.”_

_“Ooh, chocolate chip.” Daisy marvelled, putting down the jeans and picking up a fork off the side._

_“Here.” May placed a stack of them in front of her daughter as she slid into a seat at the breakfast bar._

_“Where is he then? Did I just miss him?” Daisy asked between mouthfuls._

_“Yeah, sorry_ _Máomao_ _, he got a call.”_

_“It’s okay. I’ll probably seem him sometime this week.” Coulson was her Supervising Officer, she’d been assigned to him after she’d graduated the Comms academy and reported to him often. Daisy’s eyes narrowed as she began to think of what her mother had just revealed, chewing slower, looking up to regard Melinda as the older woman stuck the pancake pan into the sink. “What was he doing here so early anyway?”_

_Melinda turned around to see Daisy giving her a suggestive look._

_“He was dropping off a file I need for a review later today.” May answered pointedly._

_“And then, naturally, he made you pancakes?” Daisy tried to supress a grin._

_May rolled her eyes, grabbing a tea towel from beside the sink she threw it in Daisy’s general direction. “You’re washing up.”_

 

* * *

 

Was it wrong that Daisy dreamt of waking up again in The Framework? Did that make her an awful person? To want to leave reality behind and live in a fake world where almost all her wounds and mistakes were remedied. Was she truly willing to sacrifice her friendships with Fitz, Jemma, and Mack, among others, just so she could live in a world where she’d never truly felt pain, at least not to the extent she had in this one. Sure, she’d been hurt in The Framework, it had been part of what made it feel real, but it was cuts and scrapes compared to what she’d been subjected to in reality. Was it selfish that she wanted to live in a world where she had parents, and grandparents? A world where S.H.I.E.L.D had never fallen, where she didn’t have the burden of her powers, where Trip was still alive, where.... No. She couldn’t think like this. It wasn’t helpful. She couldn’t go back, even if she wanted it, she couldn’t. She had to face this... and she had to face it alone. For want of a better word, it was embarrassing – by Radcliffe’s approximation Daisy wanting a consistent maternal figure in May was one of her deepest desires. Daisy felt violated, that a man she barely knew had accessed thoughts she kept so guarded. For so many reasons, May could never know what Daisy knew.

“Knock knock.” The glass door to Daisy’s cubicle rattled as Coulson gave it a couple of raps with his knuckles.

“Hey.” Daisy answered, her voice a little hoarse and her smile a little sad. She looked up at him only for a moment before it hurt and she had to avert her gaze.

“How are you feeling?” Phil made his way to her bed, perching beside her.

“Alright. I’m still... working through some stuff. You?” Daisy swallowed her tears. Ever since she’d come out of The Framework she felt ready to start sobbing as soon as something, or someone, reminded her of it.

“About as good as can be expected after a mad scientist implants a duplicate life in your head.” Phil shrugged. Looking at Daisy out the corner of his eye he saw how distant she seemed. She’d only looked at him once briefly since he’d walked in, other than that she’d focused mainly on where her own hands sat in her lap.

“We’re all going to be okay, Daisy.” Coulson attempted to reassure her. “Even May,” he added softly.

That got a reaction. Finally, Daisy looked up at him properly, regarding him with wide, dark, wet eyes. “I know that.”

She knew it, because she was going to make sure of it. She was going to protect May. Daisy couldn’t be sure what May had faced in The Framework, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to make it all harder by dumping her own messed-up emotional baggage on top of May’s own.

 

* * *

 

May was busy taking out her frustrations on a punching bag when Phil interrupted her. He didn’t say anything, in fact he entered the sparring room completely silently, not meaning to disturb her. But she couldn’t ignore him. Not now.

“Hey,” she said, almost softly, as she back away from the bag and began to pull off her gloves.

“Hi,” His response was simple, yet calculated, as if suddenly he didn’t know her... didn’t know what to expect from her.

Finally, she looked up to face him. Her bottom lip tremored the tiniest bit, nostrils then flared to counter the show of weakness as much as possible.

“It’s good to have you back.” He continued, soft, but still calculating.

May nodded lightly, averting her gaze. He couldn’t know how much it hurt to hear that. For him, he had gotten her back. For her... it was like she’d lost him, again. Radcliffe had known it somehow too, what was between herself and Coulson. It was harder here than in The Framework, they were both different here, with different pasts, darker pasts. Before she’d gone into The Framework she’d almost thought, maybe, the games she and Phil had been playing were finally, after 30 years, coming to their conclusion. That they might get a chance to be happy. Then she had to go ruin it by getting herself kidnapped.

These fake memories she had of herself and Phil, they would haunt her forever. The Framework haunted her. She’d been asking herself ever since she woke up whether the events of The Framework were a representation of what could have been in real life, or just pure fallacy born out of her own desires. Would she and Andrew have divorced without Bahrain? Could she have saved Katya? Could she and Coulson have acted on their feelings earlier without Bahrain? Would Daisy have been a part of her life if she’d never been assigned to the Bus? These unanswerable questions tortured her the most.

“It’s good to be back.” May finally responded. She wasn’t sure whether she was lying or not.

Coulson looked truly pained, “I’m sorry... I didn’t realise she wasn’t you. I feel like I should have -”

“Phil.” She cut him off, smiling. So this had been what was getting to him. “You couldn’t have known. Simmons told me she had my brain, all my memories. She didn’t even know she wasn’t me.”

“Still.” He folded his arms tightly. “I like to think I know you.”

“You do.” May answered in a matter-of-fact tone.

“As soon as she betrayed me though... I knew.” Phil shook his head slowly.

May smiled a little wider; it was always nice to be reminded that he trusted her implicitly. As much as she was enjoying this now, she knew she was due back in the lab for more tests and so made for the door.

“That’s sweet.” She grinned. Reaching out she gave his upper arm an intimate little squeeze as she passed by.

Coulson blinked, head whipping round to follow Melinda as she walked away from him, out the door and down the corridor. What was that? His blue eyes were wide as he went over the past couple of seconds in his head. He felt 25 again, a 24 year old Melinda May crouched at his side, busing making his assignment a little more exciting. She’d flirt, he’d flirt back, and then neither Agent would take it any further.

May got all the way down the corridor before she realised what had just happened.

_The Framework – July 2013_

_‘Please don’t open the curtains.’ Phil groaned from the bed, turning his head and laying his forearm over his eyes._

_‘Alright, Grandpa. It’s eight thirty.’ Melinda said as she tugged the curtains apart, causing bright light to spill into their bedroom._

_“On a Sunday. That’s like... six in the morning in weekday time.”_

_“Bacon’s cooking and they need pancakes.” May summarised._

_Phil moved his arm so one eye could peak through to meet May’s gaze, “Alright. Only because I don’t want you wrecking my pans.”_

_May moved to the side of the bed, slipping her hands into his so she could tug him out from under the sheets._

_He made a song and dance about getting up, complaining and groaning until his feet landed on the carpet. “Do I have to get dressed?”_

_“Well, you might want to put a shirt on. Daisy’s downstairs.”_

_Phil frowned, “When did she get here?”_

_“She was here when you came in last night.”_

_He snorted, “Isn’t the point of moving out that you don’t live at home anymore?”_

_“I’m not going to be the one to tell her.” May didn’t at all mind that Daisy spent half her free time here, and despite the jokes, neither did Phil._

_“Get dressed. I’ll see you downstairs.” Melinda concluded the conversation, running a hand down his arm and giving it a quick squeeze before leaving the room to go join her daughter downstairs._

“Oh god,” May muttered to herself. She couldn’t seem to reconcile herself, part of her felt unperturbed by what had just occurred, and yet another part felt very uneasy. Her life in The Framework had been so different, she and Phil were a lot... closer, and Daisy was her kid, their kid... basically. The lines were so blurred. What did real May know, and what did fake May know? Was hugging Daisy something real May did, or just Framework May? Did real May know that Phil sleeps on his front? Or the fact he likes to iron everything, even his bed sheets. Did real May know Daisy always cries watching My Girl, and finds fart jokes funny even if she won’t admit it?

If she couldn’t figure out where the boundaries were, there was no way May was going to be able to protect her secret.

 

 


	2. Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy finds an unhealthy coping mechanism.

_The Framework – January 1997_

_“Morning. What’s that?” May’s tone quickly switched from affectionate to chastising as she emerged from the hallway, entering the kitchen with a basket full of clean washing._

_Her eight-year-old ward was stood at the faux-marble topped island slathering a slice of white bread with peanut butter and jelly. “You told me to make my own lunch?” Daisy answered simply. The little girl was quite short for her age, and so knelt on a bar stool in order to reach the work surface, dark hair dangling, carefully braided into two sections and tied up at the ends with yellow bands. She was wearing a thick red jumper, at May’s request, because a t-shirt was not fit clothing for January weather on the east coast._

_“Peanut butter and jelly? I didn’t even know we had that in the cupboard.” Melinda muttered, dumping the basket on the kitchen table before moving to look over Daisy’s shoulder._

_“It’s from when you were away.” The girl explained._

_Last month May had been thrown into an assignment that had forced her to leave for Europe on short notice. She’d been gone a week. There had been only one person both capable and available to step up to the plate and keep an eye on Daisy._

_May shook her head lightly. She knew the man could cook, and yet, Phil fed Daisy peanut butter jelly sandwiches?_

_“He got Oreos too.” Daisy smirked._

_Mat just sighed, “Are you nearly done?”_

_“Yeah.” Daisy grinned, dumping her cling-film wrapped creation in her lunch box and going to close the lid._

_“Apple, Máomao.” May said, placing one of the fruits in front of Daisy. The nickname was something that had come with time. It was something May’s_ _father had called as a child, and as an adult. Something his own mother had called him. A verbal family heirloom. It didn’t have an exact translation in English, as far as Melinda could work out, the closest might be ‘Little One’. Daisy had never questioned it, or asked what it meant, but she seemed to light up whenever it was used._

_The girl opened her box back up and dutifully placed the apple inside._

_Melinda picked up the kettle as it began to whistle, pouring herself a cup of tea. The smell of the green leaves lifted to meet her, fresh and soothing. May hummed as she brought the beverage to her lips._

_“Um... have you seen my reading book?” Daisy’s nosed scrunched up in confusion as she sifted through the contents of her school bag._

_“By your bed. Remember.”_

_Daisy made a dash for the stairs._

_“Brush your teeth while you’re up there! Quickly.” May took another sip of her tea. Daisy was not a punctual child. With that thought she poured the rest of her tea into a travel mug._

_“Got it!” Daisy announced a moment later as she bounced off the bottom step. She sped into the kitchen and chucked her book on top of her other school things, awkwardly zipping up her bag as she made her way to the front door._

_“Scarf.” May caught Daisy before she opened the door. The woman crouched a little, turning down the girl’s collar and throwing the garment around her neck before she could protest._

_Daisy’s school was only a five-minute drive away. By the time they got there the courtyard was packed with other children, milling around, running, screaming._

_“Be good.” May called after Daisy, expecting the usual reply._

_“You too.” The little girl looked back and gave Melinda a flash of her teeth; a sharp grin. With that she disappeared into the crowd._

_May muttered to herself in Chinese as she put the car in gear, “Wǒ rènwéi búshì._ _” ‘I don’t think so.’_

_That was the day she’d decided Daisy was hers. It was 10:20 when Agent Avery paged her. Half an hour later they were sat together on opposite sides of Avery’s desk._

_“I’m sure you know what this concerns, Agent May.”_

_May didn’t respond, she merely cocked her head, waiting._

_Avery coughed a little, straightening her suit jacket, “Daisy has been in your care for nearly nine months now...”_

_“What do I have to do?”_

_Avery frowned deeply, taken aback. “I’m sorry?”_

_“To keep Daisy.” May said through gritted teeth._

_“Agent May...” Avery began._

_May didn’t like the too-kind tone of her voice that was being used. It never boded well._

_“Daisy’s rotation is protocol, she has to change hands to keep her safe.”_

_May shook her head, breathing deeply, nostrils flared in annoyance. “I read the file, Avery. That protocol crap is ancient, it was enacted when Daisy’s father was still at large, surely now he’s been put away and she’s not in any danger from him rotation is superfluous. It doesn’t make sense.” She spoke through her teeth. “And, it isn’t fair on Daisy.” ‘Or me,’ she wanted to add._

_Avery bit her tongue. She was not a cruel woman, and she understood Agent May's plight. It was unfair on Daisy, and the agents who got attached to her._

_“I’ll see what I can do.”_

_It was eight that night when Avery arrived at her front door. Melinda sent Daisy to read upstairs, and then invited the other woman in. There was silence for what felt for an age. It was only once they were sat in the lounge that Avery began to speak._

_“There is only one way to do this, Agent May. Daisy is not only a ward of the federal government, but also a person of interest, given her parent’s abilities.”_

_“I know.” The words caught in Melinda’s throat briefly._

_“A plan has been devised that will... allow you to keep her. But, you understand, she can no longer be Daisy Johnson. Simply put, on paper... we’re going to kill her.”_

_“I don’t understand."_

_The other agent wrung her hands in her lap, “There are possible future threats beyond just Daisy’s father. Killing her in name only, and eradicating any paperwork that states you ever had any contact with Daisy Johnson, would be the best way to keep her safe.”_

_“You’re saying that...” May trailed off, unsure._

_“If you agree, as far as anyone will ever be concerned, Daisy will be your biological child. A different child from Daisy Johnson. We’ll draw up a birth certificate, any other documentation you might need. You’ll be relocated to Los Angeles, to a mission facility there. Are there any of your colleagues who’ve been told the truth about Daisy by yourself?”_

_Melinda nodded, “Agent Coulson. He had clearance.”_

_“He’ll be briefed on the situation.” Avery noted it down on a piece of wrinkled paper that she’d pulled from her purse._

_“So, you’re saying,” May gulped, “I have to leave everything?”_

_Avery continued without considering May’s question, “Any civilians that might be a worry?”_

_“Uh. My parents, but they’d do anything to keep Daisy safe. They’re not a threat.”  Both May seniors adored Daisy to her bones, even though Melinda’s mother had muttered something characteristically judgmental in Chinese about ‘not finding a man first’ when she’d first heard May had taken in a child._

_“You can still back out, Agent May.” Avery offered._

_Was she scared? Of course, but when it came down to it Melinda May had faced far scarier things that a move to L.A. It's not like there was a whole lot keeping her in New York anyway. Daisy needed her, she couldn’t even possibly ‘back out’._

_“Perhaps take a night or two.” Avery suggested, pulling a brown envelope out of her purse. “I’ll leave the paperwork with you. If and when you feel ready all you need to do is sign on this line.” The agent flicked to the back page and pointed to the faint dots marked toward the footer._

_Melinda reached out, and Avery surrendered it. Appraising the weight of it in her hands May felt a surge of possibility. As if on automatic, she reached for a pen Daisy had left on the coffee table, placed on a piece of half-finished homework. Without looking up to gauge Avery’s reaction Melinda turned to that fateful, final page, and signed the paper._

_“Congratulations, Agent May, you have a daughter.”_

 

* * *

 

Daisy decided to vent her frustration the way she always did these days. Every hard punch that struck the bag was a word she couldn’t say, a secret about her experience she couldn’t tell. This afternoon she had her first psych session, Jemma having now found a psychologist she approved of, and Daisy had no idea what she was going to say to them.

There was so much going on in her head right now she thought her brain might blow from the pressure. She’d noticed differences in her body as well as her mind. The way she walked, the way she used cutlery, the order of her daily rituals, it was all in conflict. See, Real Daisy had a shower and then got breakfast, but Framework Daisy always had breakfast first and then got washed up. So, what order should Daisy do stuff in now?

Something she’d really noticed was her fighting style was much more fluid than it had been prior to her abduction, she was now capable of flipping into hits as well as avoiding and exploiting them. Physical abilities she’d gained in The Framework, as long as they were based in technique, she could now replicate in the real world with a bit of practice. In The Framework, she’d been trained by her mother to protect herself from twelve years old; those memories might only exist inside her mind, but they were evident in how she moved now.

Teeth clenched tight, and deep creases between her eyebrows, she threw her fists into the leather with force, aggravating the still-healing fractures in her arms. Her bones ached, pain spiking under skin with every strike. The steady _‘boof... boof boof’_ made by her punches served to send her into some sort of angry, dissociative trance. She imagined the bag was Radcliffe; what she wouldn’t give to talk with him, to ask ‘why?’, and then get a couple of hits in before someone pulled her off him.

A figure appeared by the door to the sparring room. “Daisy!” Simmons interrupted, waving a hand to get the other girl’s attention.

Daisy backed away from the bag, breathing heavily.

“Doctor Shapira is ready for you. He’s waiting in your bunk, he thought it would be more private.” With that Jemma exited, leaving Daisy to wallow in her anxiety.

The young agent towelled off and gathered herself before slowly making her way back to her room. She’d hated psychologists long before she’d had secrets this big to hide, and today she dreaded what waited for her. Finally, she reached her door. One harsh outward breath and she was as ready as she would ever be.

Once all the platitudes and pleasantries were exchanged, Dr. Elliot Shapira sat her down on the edge of her own bed while he took a chair opposite. If he was expecting her to lie down, she didn’t indulge him.

“Daisy, I understand you haven’t shared details of your experience in this alternate reality with any of your colleagues yet.” Shapira began.

Daisy was hardly listening, too busy sizing the man up. He was not a tall guy, but still taller than Daisy. Slender all over, slender fingers and a slender face, and ears that stuck out just a little. Eyebrows that sat dark and heavy over deep, kind eyes. His voice was level, warm, and attractive in a platonic way; not too high, not too low. His Israeli accent had been somewhat diluted by his years stateside, but was still evident. It was clear Simmons had chosen him because he was likeable, more than because he was best qualified. Jemma knew how picky Daisy could be.

“No.” Daisy answered after a long moment.

“Could you... tell me why?” Shapira leaned back, attentive, but relaxed. Perhaps he hoped if he appeared relaxed then Daisy would let her guard down a bit more.

It seemed to work. Daisy’s shoulders dropped as the tension began to seep away. She really did want to tell someone about The Framework. She was barely holding it together.

Daisy bottom lip quivered a little before she spoke again. “I didn’t know where to start.”

“Start at the beginning. Dr. Simmons explained to me that The Framework attempted to fix at least one great regret for each subject. Start where things began to diverge from reality.”

“It’s not that simple for me,” Daisy’s voice was barely above a whisper, “My greatest regret is where I came from.”

There was a long pause. Once it seemed Daisy wasn't going to continue Shapira gave her a little nudge, "Could you... elaborate?"

It was a fair few seconds before Daisy felt she could continue. “I like who I am now, but... given the chance, I would change the circumstances of my birth. Thing is, that's one thing The Framework can’t rewrite. Fitz told me one of the directives of The Framework was that a subject couldn’t be born into a different life or situation than that of their real selves. It wasn’t possible for The Framework to rewrite my regret, but it still tried."

“So, you have no overlapping memories, only new ones. To you, it seems like...” The Doctor trailed off.

“I had a whole different life.”

 

_The Framework - June 2004_

_“Phil.” Daisy was breathless as she called his name. She’d ran through fifteen long corridors, thundered up three flights of stairs (because the elevator took too long), and almost fallen over twice in her efforts to reach him. Her brown eyes were wide. She was obviously close to tears. “Is she okay? Can I see her?”_

_“Oh, Daisy...” The man looked relieved to see her. Without a second thought he wrapped his arms around her. Placing his hand on the back of her head in an obvious fatherly gesture. Through the past eight years Phil had been a staple in Daisy’s life, going above and beyond the call of duty. Though she was sixteen now, and above needing a babysitter when her mom was out of town, Phil still made sure to check in on her, as much for his own peace of mind as May’s. There’d been plenty of occasions in which May had been forced away on an overnight assignment and Daisy had awoken to the smell of fresh coffee and bacon._

_Daisy responded by burying her face in his shoulder, and gripping the back of his suit jacket._

_Coulson continued to speak as he held the girl in his arms, “She’s doing good, considering. She took some hits but nothing she hasn’t taken before. Few months R &R and she’ll be back to old self, I promise.”_

_“Thank god.” Daisy muttered._

_With that Phil drew back so Daisy could see the guilt behind his eyes. She knew what was coming before he said it, “Daisy, I’m so sorry. I knew it was a risk. May was confident she could do it, but I was the unit handler I should have stopped her from-”_

_“Please, Phil, don’t beat yourself up.” Daisy interjected, shaking her head disbelievingly. “As if you could stop her doing anything.”_

_“She’s awake, if you want to go in? I called Andrew, he should be here soon too.” Coulson moved to the side so Daisy could access the door he was stood in front of._

_Daisy nodded earnestly._

_Phil grabbed the doorknob and twisted, letting the girl inside._

_“Daisy?”_

_Her mother’s voice was a music to Daisy’s ears. The sound caused a breath to catch in the back of her throat, and her eyesight began blur, obscured by tears once again._

_“Hey, how you feeling?” Daisy’s tone was apprehensive. She opted for sitting on the edge of the bed instead of the chair placed by May’s head._

_Melinda May put on an unimpressed expression, “Like shit.” Still, despite what she said, the woman was smiling slightly. Cuts and grazes marred every inch of May’s body, as far as Daisy could see, and her leg was in a huge cast, yet the agent’s eyes shone triumphantly._

_“Phil said you’ll be out of action for a while. We can finally go see the new Harry Potter together.” Daisy gave Melinda’s good leg a playful nudge with her elbow._

_“I’d love that.”_

_The was a tense moments silence before Daisy spoke again, “Mom, can I ask... what really went down over there?”_

_Daisy had spoken to her mother not fifteen minutes before the entire operation had gone to hell, and at that point May hadn’t even been in a combat situation. They hadn’t been anticipating combat at all. An hour later Andrew had tried to explain everything to Daisy over the phone, but the man had been so distraught he could barely get a straight sentence out. Muttering something about how he should have told her not to go in, how he was sorry, and something about a little girl._

_Melinda May smiled, joy and relief, putting a hand to the side of her daughter’s face. “I saved her, Daisy. I saved the girl.”_

 

 

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__please follow me at[@daisyqiaolainmay](http://daisyqiaolianmay.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! i'm taking prompts__

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	3. Part 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy struggles to come to terms with her real life, spiraling once again, whilst May finally confides in somebody.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait between updates. I managed to drop a george foreman grill on my wrist and got some very quake-esque bruising that made typing quickly kind of hard.

“You know, the number of needles you’re sticking in me it’s starting to feel personal.” Daisy half-joked, a little uneasy.

Jemma scoffed, her eyes still trained on where she was drawing blood from Daisy’s arm.

“You mad because you weren’t in my version of The Framework?” Daisy smiled this time.

“Of course not.” Jemma scoffed, and busied herself with the blood sample, turning away from her friend to log it. After a couple of seconds, she returned to Daisy’s side to mop up the spot of blood on the girl’s arm and stick a band-aid on it. “Out of interest, who was in your version of The Framework?”

Daisy quickly hid her panic. “Uh... no one, actually. It was super weird.”

“Well then,” The corner of Jemma’s mouth twitched upward, “I feel a little bit better.”

“How’s the patient?” A voice Daisy hadn’t been expecting to hear caught her by surprise.

This would be the first time they’d interacted since before The Framework. Melinda May stood not five meters away, arms crossed, legs shoulder width apart, just like Daisy’s mother did. Daisy berated herself, she didn’t have a mother, not a living one anyway, and this wasn’t her.

“Everything looks great.” Jemma started, before turning to glare at Daisy. “Though, once again, I’m going to tell you off for messing with those fractures. No putting any stress on your arms for a few weeks, and come and get checked out before you go back to sparring.”

Daisy bit her tongue. That was one less thing she could use to distract herself, to anchor herself. The pain in her arms sucked, but at least it reminded her of who she was, what she could do. It told her she was Daisy Johnson, an Inhuman who could tear down skyscrapers, not Daisy May, human field agent.

“Alright. I’m going to go take Coulson’s blood and then it’s your turn Agent May.” Simmons strode off, leaving the two other women in complete turmoil.

“Jesus, Daisy,” May huffed. She watched as girl grimaced while rolling down her sleeves to cover the evident bruises that bloomed like forget-me-nots under her skin. “You have any idea the long-term effects of pulling stunts like that? You’re going to have arthritis by 35.”

Daisy’s mouth opened, and then closed. Seeing May stood so close, berating her for not being safe enough, reminded her of her mother... so much.

_The Framework – July 2015_

_“You are not a god damn martyr. Imagine if you’d died, Daisy. What would I tell your grandparents?” Melinda was stood menacingly at the end of Daisy’s hospital bed with her arms tightly folded. This was the first time her daughter had been badly injured on an assignment._

_Daisy muffled a groan of pain as she tried to sit up a little more. “It’s just a broken arm, a couple of ribs. It’s nothing!”_

_“Bú yào gàosu wǒ.” May growled. ‘Don’t say that to me.’_

_“Mom-” Daisy tried to interject._

_“You start talking like that next time round I’ll be reading your eulogy.” May’s eyes were brimming, and Daisy could see clearly how terrified her mother truly was._

_“I would never do that to you,” the younger agent concluded softly._

Daisy wasn’t exactly clear on where Framework May ended and real May began. She knew some things had come easier to Framework May, like physical affection, or domesticity, so Daisy had come to assume that real May had not struggled with those things before Bahrain. In essence, Framework May and real May were the same person, just one experienced Bahrain, whereas the other had raised Daisy. The way May was acting now was definitely reminiscent of protective Framework May, and yet Daisy knew real May could be just as protective, if more indirectly. She had beaten a guy half to death for Daisy before, and that was back when they didn’t know each other half as well as now, so... this might be one instance in which the Framework and reality overlapped.

“I know, Mo-.” Daisy cut herself off, and bit her lip. This is why she’d been avoiding May, she couldn’t trust herself not to slip up. Daisy tried to look sincere, as much as she knew she may not be able to keep her word. “I’ll try to be safer.”

The two women locked gazes. For a moment, it seemed something important passed between them. Then she saw them. Daisy could actually see the barriers go up. It was clear in the way May’s eyes flickered and dimmed, gaze averting.

Daisy wondered: In how many more ways was Framework May like real May?

 

* * *

 

Melinda May knew how to keep a secret. She’d been born to it, and trained for it. She’d kept the truth of what had happened in Bahrain from her husband, her parents, her best friend. That had broken her. It had taken her a decade to pick up all the pieces because she’d refused to talk it through. She hadn’t given anyone the chance to tell her ‘it’s not your fault’, or ‘you made the decision you had to make’. The secrets she was keeping now, the truth about who Daisy had been to her in The Framework, who Phil had been to her in there, it might tear her apart too. She was bursting with all the untruths of that other reality. Every precious fabricated memory she couldn’t let go of tortured her just a little.

“May, please talk to me.” Phil said softly, shifting closer.

They were sat in his office, gathered on his couch. His blue eyes bored into her almost painfully. She couldn’t meet his gaze.

“This the only reason you called me in here?” May asked sharply.

“Melinda...” Phil sighed. “Dr. Shapira told me you’ve been refusing to speak in your sessions.”

May turned to him, eyes unyielding. “I though psych sessions were confidential,” she said bitterly.

“Only what’s said. The fact you haven’t said a word isn’t.” Phil’s tone was almost teasing.

Her expression softened, showing the fear that hid beneath. She didn’t want act out at Phil, it wasn’t him she was angry with.

“I don’t want it on record, I guess.”

“Who you were in there?” Phil probed.

Melinda nodded solemnly.

“Whatever you did in there, Mel, it doesn’t matter. Who you are in reality is what matters.” Phil was trying so hard to comfort her, but he had it all wrong. He though she was ashamed, that she wanted to forget, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. She wanted so badly for who she was in The Framework to matter.

“Phil, it’s not… like that.” May swallowed her trepidation. She knew Coulson would keep her secrets if she asked. “I’m not ashamed of who I was in there.”

His gaze never wavered, trained on her.

“There’s something about The Framework I need to tell someone.”

Coulson folded his arms, deep in thought. “Are you sure you want it to be me? Dr. Shapira would probably see you now if you wanted. Or maybe Daisy, I know she’s having trouble opening up about The Framework too, maybe you could-”

“No,” May interrupted sharply. “Daisy can’t know about this, Phil.”

 

* * *

 

 

_The Framework – March 2002_

_“Wait. Tell me a bed time story.” Daisy whispered into the darkness. It was late, the only light in Daisy’s bedroom emanated from the main light on the landing._

_“You know I’m no good at that.” Melinda tried not to sound too exasperated. Daisy was maybe a little too old for bedtime stories, but May consider this making up for lost time. That’s how they both saw it._

_“Any story.” Daisy shifted under her bed sheets, turned on her side, and propped her head up with one hand._

_All of a sudden, a glint danced in May’s eye, though her expression betrayed nothing. “How about I tell a you a story in mandarin-”_

_Daisy groaned, dropping her face into her pillow. “Oh my god,” her muffled voice interjected._

_“-and you translate for me?” May finished. “You were the one who wanted to learn, Máomao.” Daisy’s mandarin was pretty seamless now, May could only assume Daisy was reluctant to participate because she was tired, not because she was incapable._

_“I know. I know.” Daisy steeled herself. “I’m just tired.” This is how it went these days. Ever since Daisy had told May she wanted to be able to speak Chinese life had become a little more frustrating. She’d been learning for a year and half now, and Melinda had been tireless, not a day had passed in which May overlooked giving Daisy a task of some sort, whether it was translating a shopping list, or making a phone call to one of her grandparents. Melinda May was a ruthless teacher, but Daisy couldn’t fault the results; she could pretty much speak the language now, though Chinese characters still somewhat alluded her._

_Melinda motioned for Daisy to move over a bit. Daisy’s bed was a double and had plenty of space for two, so May moved to sit on top of the covers, her back supported by pillows._

_Daisy lay down fully and sidled up to May, closing her eyes, and listening._

“Okay.” Daisy breathed deeply, and then sniffled. She had her newly-bandaged arms wrapped around herself, tight, holding herself together. Her sight was blurred by the tears she was trying to contain. She must look awful; her arms black and blue, the slowly-healing scars of previous injuries marring her complexion, with eyeliner trailing its way down her cheeks.  “Okay,” she told herself again, voice thick, her chest tight with every emotion she was trying not to let herself feel.

Every time she thought she could forget it suddenly came all rushing back, and it was like she’d lost everything all over again. She missed it, she missed them, and she missed having a mom. She didn’t even have a picture, or a keepsake, because it had never existed. There was nothing to hold on to, nothing she could do, like she was trying to catch smoke with her bare hands, this past life she knew so well alluded her. Daisy was grasping at ghosts again. Her life had never been fair, not in this reality. In this life she’d been neglected, abused, shot, tortured, brainwashed, the full works, but this act by far was the cruellest she’d ever been subjected to.

A mere few rooms down from Daisy, Melinda May was sat on her bed sifting through her memories. She searched an album of photos of her parents, of the academy, of Phil and their friends, photos of holidays, and her wedding to Andrew. The book had been a birthday present from her father, he’d said he hoped it would help to ground her, remind her of her life outside of S.H.I.E.L.D. Right now the contents of the album was just making the real world seem untouchable, and every photo she looked at felt like it was formed from a memory of a dream. She knew it had all happened, but she also remembered it happening in a different way than these images depicted. Holding the photo of her and Andrew’s wedding tight between her finger and thumb, her bottom lip trembled. She hadn’t had a bridesmaid at her real wedding, they’d just eloped, yet, she remembered a version of this photo so clearly, with Daisy, just fifteen-years-old, flanking Melinda, in a pale blue dress, smiling slightly awkwardly at the photographer. May didn’t have any photos of Daisy in this album. In her other life, there’d been so many photos of Daisy she hadn’t known what to do with them, and now all she had was empty spaces where no one had ever been.

It felt good to have told someone the truth about her Framework reality, she was glad she’d told Coulson about Daisy, even if she hadn’t told him about... who he’d been to her in there. She wasn’t sure there’d have be a time or a place for that particular secret to be told. However, while telling Phil had been a relief, it hadn’t anything to ease the intense feeling a loss she’d been burdened with.

It was so strange to claim that something had been stolen from her, when it was something she had never had, but Melinda knew she had been robbed, and she knew who was to blame; the late Doctor Holden Radcliffe, the one dead man in the world who still had the ability to talk.

 

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_please follow me at[@daisyqiaolainmay](http://daisyqiaolianmay.tumblr.com/) on tumblr! i'm taking prompts_

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	4. Part 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May and Coulson search for the truth.

_The Framework - April 2006_

_Daisy was not looking forward to today. As bright as she undeniably was, Shakespeare was not her forte. Information Technology? She was mind-blowingly brilliant. Math? She was pro. Science? She didn’t enjoy but she crushed it anyway. However, she couldn’t wait for the day she never had to study literature again._

_“Someone’s got their grumpy face on. What’s up?” Phil entered the kitchen, headed for the basin._

_“Hm,” was Daisy’s non-committal response._

_“That bad, huh?” Phil filled a glass with water and then turned to face the girl. “This about that Shakespeare quiz today?”_

_Daisy sighed. “The Iambic pentameter and I aren’t exactly best buds.”_

_“Well... at least you remembered what it’s called.” Phil offered, trying not to smirk, trying to appear like he didn’t find the very comical depleted look on Daisy’s face as funny as he did._

_“I can’t wait for the Academy next year, I’m so ready to be out of high school.”_

_“You won’t be saying that when they’re making you do push ups on a wet field at six in the morning,” Phil scoffed. Then the man’s expression softened, regarding Daisy and the tired expression she was wearing. He came over to the island, stood opposite her and leant across the surface so they could speak in closer quarters. “Daisy, you’re only seventeen. You’re still a kid. Enjoy it.”_

_When he moved away again Daisy almost wanted to roll her eyes at him, but she decided against it._

_“Come on. You’re going to be late.”_

_“Yeah.” Daisy conceded. She grabbed her backpack by the handle and trailed Phil out to the front of the house._

_And there, sat on the driveway, lo and behold, was a little red corvette._

_“Your mom said you might be down this morning, so...” Phil gestured to the car._

_“Oh my god, do I get to drive her?” Daisy said, making a beeline for the vehicle._

_Phil pulled the keys from his pocket and somewhat reluctantly held them out to the teenager._

_“Seriously? Yes.” Daisy snatched the keys, opened the driver’s side door, and slid in._

_Daisy had been driving a while now and was fairly experienced, but funnily enough it was mostly her grandmother who had taught her. Lian May was a woman who had always favoured efficiency over safety. In accordance with that Daisy was, like her grandmother, somewhat terrifying to be in a car with at times. Phil had asked May to let him teach Daisy, when the time came, and she would have let him, but the way things had turned out it just wasn’t feasible._

_About six months after May had first moved to L.A. with Daisy Phil had gladly taken a posting leading a unit based there. He’d told people he’d moved for the better hours they’d offered, but everyone who really knew him, including himself, was aware it was because of May and Daisy. Then, about two years ago, he’d got reassigned by the Director to a base in Washington; a small Shield facility called ‘The Basin’ that took in individuals with potential and trained/reformed them. They made them into agents, and heroes. Just recently, in a seriously controversial move that had made Phil question his good judgment, he’d allowed one of his best agents to bring in one of Russia’s most prolific assassins for assessment._

_It was a huge honour to be part of something like that, to be so trusted, but he’d been pretty much forced into the position. Since taking the placement he only saw May and Daisy when his job landed him in California, or he was given enough time off to catch a plane to LAX._

_They got to the high school with more minutes to spare than they would have done if Phil were driving. The little red corvette, flashing in the sunlight, drew a fair bit of attention._

_“Thanks, Phil.” Daisy was grinning as she pulled sharply into a parking spot._

_“Alright. Have a good day.” Phil said begrudgingly. There was only two people on the planet he let touch Lola, and unfortunately both were equally terrifying drivers._

_Daisy leant in a gave him a grateful peck on the cheek before clambering out the car and rushing off to class._

_“Don’t get used to this!” Coulson called after her._

_When she reached the door to the reception area she was met by a few of her friends, all of which had seen her arrival. After they’d said hi and commented on Lola two split off almost immediately to go to their lockers. She was left alone with one of her closer friends, Lil, who obviously wanted an explanation regarding Lola and her owner._

_“Who was that dude? I thought you didn’t have a dad.”_

_That was the story they’d gone with. Daisy Qiaolian May had been born to Melinda May when the young agent was just 24, no father to speak of. The story they told was he hadn’t wanted to be involved and May hadn’t forced him. Only Daisy, Melinda, her parents, Phil, and a select number of S.H.I.E.L.D agents knew the truth._

_“I don’t.” Daisy gritted her teeth behind her lips. She couldn’t help but think of Cal Johnson. That she does technically still have a father, tucked away in a box in a S.H.I.E.L.D facility in the middle of nowhere, but she’d known what kind of man he was for years. When she’d turned sixteen May had given her the file, her file, to read. Despite being a spy Melinda didn’t like to keep secrets, and thought Daisy was old enough to take it, and so she broke protocol. Daisy knew about the horrors of her past, what her father had done in her name, what kind of monster he was._

_“Mom’s boyfriend?” Lil interrogated._

_“No. Phil’s just like an old friend, he’s always been around.” Daisy shrugged, beginning to walk to class._

_“Right so... he’s always been around, and you never thought...?”_

_“He’s not my dad.” Daisy answered back in exasperation._

_“Well, not as far as you know.” Lil continued to chatter on, in a way Daisy often found endearing, but in this moment was beginning to drive her up the wall. “I saw the guy, and you got to admit, Dais, you two could be related.”_

_Daisy shot her friend a questioning glare._

_“Around the chin, the profile’s similar too, especially with the nose.” Lil shrugged. “As someone who spends like seventy per cent of their time studying human faces - I saw a resemblance.”_

_“So, being an art student makes you a geneticist now? Stop pulling my leg.” Daisy laughed, pulling the other, smaller girl out the way of oncoming corridor traffic. Lil tended to stare at her feet when she walked, and was uncoordinated at the best of times._ _“He’s really not my dad, Lil.”_

_“Alright. Fine. Just, you know, I can’t believe how uninterested in finding out who your dad is you are. I would want to know, Dude.” Lil offered._

_Daisy shook her head as they entered their classroom. “I don’t need another parent.” Her mom was enough. Though, if she was going to have a dad, she wouldn’t mind it being Phillip Coulson. I mean, everything he did for her, he was kind of her dad..._

 

Daisy was fed up of being cooped up in the base with nothing to do and no way to vent her frustration. Her arms ached to high heaven, which was her own fault, she knew that, but that knowledge didn’t go any way to placate her annoyance. Every moment that passed her anger toward AIDA grew. Daisy’s eyes flickered from the ceiling to where her laptop was sat open. Just when she’d begun to feel whole again, AIDA had reached inside and torn her out of her own body. She’d replaced Daisy’s life with a wonderful lie, then ripped that away too.

With a huff Daisy threw herself back down onto her bed and screwed her eyes shut. If she didn’t find something to distract or calm herself soon, she was going to do something stupid.

 

* * *

 

Coulson watched carefully from a distance as Fitzsimmons worked. Fitz handed Jemma a file and she didn’t even look up as she grasped it. Silently, the woman placed the file beside her, and continued to consider the brain scan she had up on her screen.

“Blood work came back normal.” Fitz offered as he sat at his computer and went back to what he’d been doing previously.

“Well, at least that’s a relief. Though...” Simmons lowered her voice, “I think we’re going to find the psychological effects of The Framework to be more potent than the physical.”

Coulson chose this moment to step in. “Any progress on finding out the nature of The Framework?”

Both scientists looked up, regarding Coulson with wide eyes.

“‘Nature’, Sir?” Jemma frowned.

“But, we already know the nature of it?” Fitz said, sharing a look with Simmons. “It’s purpose was to placate the subjects AIDA inserted.”

“Yes, but,” Coulson pulled up the nearest chair, agitated, “I mean, how much do we know about The Framework?”

Two quizzical faces stared back at him.

“I want to know... is it possible that,” he motioned widely and brought his voice down low, “all of us were in the _same_ Framework?”

He couldn’t shake the idea. When May had told him about adopting Daisy, the move to L.A., and saving Katya, it had sparked a realisation, because all of those things... they were his Framework. Since then there were a few little things that had begun to make themselves known. The way May was around him now was more familiar than it had been before The Framework, she was just a little more affectionate, and, out of the blue, Daisy had started getting awkward around him, stuttering, and calling him ‘Phil’ with frequency. It had taken him a while to notice, because it felt like maybe it was normal enough, but it wasn’t normal, not in this reality. She'd always called him Phil... before. Coulson knew he was right about this, he just needed proof.

 

* * *

 

Melinda May had to take a few moments pacing round the room to steel her nerves. She stared down the vaguely familiar contraption sat in the middle of the small, dimly lit room. A makeshift version of the stretchers she and the other’s bodies had been strapped into whilst their minds had been caught up in The Framework, except this time the technology was built into an old armchair. Fitz had installed it so that they could still talk to Radcliffe if they’d needed to. After all, AIDA was still very much at large, and Radcliffe was their best insight into what she might be thinking.

“Here goes nothing.” May growled. She sat down and placed the sensors tightly over her head, before digging her nails deep into the arms of the chair.

No more than a second later she opened her eyes to find herself sat on the end of a long, leather couch. The TV across from her was on, the highlights of a Rugby match coloured the screen.

Her surroundings were that of an open plan bungalow, with sparse furniture and cream upholstery, light and airy. The sunlight filtering through the curtains was just a tad too bright to seem real. The twittering of the birds outside just a little too insistent.

“Agent May! A pleasure.” Radcliffe appeared, coming from the far door. He was dressed in pyjamas and a long, maroon dressing gown. “I did wonder when you’d visit.”

 

* * *

 

 

“I can’t believe we didn’t consider it sooner. From a technical point of view it makes so much more sense. One reality would be much easier to maintain.” Jemma sighed.

“I need to talk to May.” Phil muttered, and ground his teeth. He directed his speech at the two young scientists this time, “Can you find out where everyone is? I need to speak to everyone who went into that thing, especially Daisy and May.”

 “Sir.” Fitz looked over his shoulder sharply to catch Coulson’s eye, before slamming a hand down on his desk in frustration.

Coulson leant over the younger man’s shoulder. “What’s she doing?” He hissed. On the glitching security footage Phil observed Melinda May sat firmly in Fitz’s makeshift entrance to Radcliffe’s section of The Framework. Seeing her like that again turned Coulson’s blood cold.

“Probably the same thing you are. Looking for answers.” Fitz offered.

“Get her out. Now!”

Fitz nodded. Shoving past a couple of well-meaning lab hands, he exited the room in haste.

“Sir.” Jemma called after Coulson, before he could rush after Fitz.

“Yes?” The tone of Jemma’s voice worried him.

“I think-” She stuttered.

Phil moved over to see what she was looking at. On her screen sat a bunch of Intel on AIDA, everything S.H.I.E.L.D had been using to track her, and a section of brand new security footage taken at the hanger door less than two minutes ago.

“I don’t understand what she’s going to do?” Jemma continued to stumble over her words. “She... she can’t go on her own. Not with the aircraft we have right now. She can’t-”

“-fly.” Coulson finished Jemma’s sentence for her, and gritted his teeth. “Yes, she can.”

_The Framework – August 2016_

_Daisy bit her lip as she flipped two more switches and pulled on the throttle with all her might. She manoeuvred as low as she could without taking the plane to ground._

_Phil Coulson held onto his harness as if his life depended on it, which it probably did. He chanced a glance out the window to his right, and then thought better of it and returned to focusing on the far wall. However, there was nothing to be done about the sickening motion of the plane, and the way his insides were being slowly turned to mush by the intense vibrations making their way through the cabin._

_Daisy’s brow was set in concentration as she skilfully began to take the plane down. She tried not to let it faze her when the warning light began to flash. Finding a sufficient space to land she quickly brought the wheels down and the plane came back to earth._

_After she turned off the engine, Daisy strode over to Coulson with a huge grin on her face. “You need a paper bag, Dad?”_

_“You fly like you drive.” Coulson drew in a couple of deep breaths. Accepting the hand she offered to help him up. “Like your mother.”_

 

Coulson shook his head in hope of dislodging the memory. “One problem at a time,” He said. With that he headed after Fitz.

 

* * *

 

 

“We don’t have much time,” May told Radcliffe. “Sit,” she ordered.

“So, they don’t know you’re talking to me.” The scientist concluded, obediently taking the chair to her right, a steaming cup of tea in hand. As he came closer she took in his appearance; the bags under his eyes, the grey stubble gathering around his jaw. Death had apparently taken some toll on his consciousness.

“I need to know...” May’s bottom lip trembled despite herself. “My life, in The Framework, why...?”

“You want to know why it was what it was?” Radcliffe smiled at May.

She simply stared him down in response.

“It was what it was because it was what you wanted. It was everything you’ve always wanted. Or, at least, the best compromise of everything you’ve always wanted.” Radcliffe took a sip of his tea.

May spoke through gritted teeth, “But, all those terrible things that still happened. I still never had my own kids, I still divorced Andrew, Katya still died in the end.”

“The best compromise.” Radcliffe explained. “We gave you a world where you had a chance to be with both Andrew and Phil, where you could have a child that was truly yours without losing Daisy. Katya still died because she has to, in every scenario we found her being alive only resulted in more deaths and more regret. At least, if she died later by another’s hand, you didn’t have to carry the guilt of killing her yourself.”

May regarded Radcliffe warily out the corner of her eye.

“As for Andrew. We didn’t find any regrets there.”

May failed to hide her interest.

“You don’t regret marrying him, Agent May, but you also don’t regret divorcing him. Especially with Phil in the-”

“And Daisy?” May cut him off in a very deliberate fashion.

“Daisy was... an afterthought, but it made so much sense to put you in with each other. We gave you other families to begin with, but it only made both of you restless. It’s what you both seemed to want and it filled a regret for both of you so neatly; a child without a mother, and a mother without a child. Amazing, really, before AIDA got in your head I never would have had you pegged as the maternal type, Agent.”

May was taken aback as she began to realise what Radcliffe was telling her.

The man continued on, oblivious, “From there it just made sense to put everyone together. It was much more efficient. Though, yourself, Agent Coulson, and Daisy were the only ones actually interacting with one another in any real way.”

“Daisy and I were in the same Framework.” May said softly, more to herself than Radcliffe. Phil too, so why hadn’t he said anything? Well, she supposed, she had omitted from her story pretty much every aspect of his influence on her life in there. He might have taken that the wrong way.

She’d never imagined she and Phil would make it to the point where they could actually be together. She’d assumed one of them, or both, would die young, it was so common in their profession not to make it past middle age. That was partly why she’d chosen Andrew all those years ago; at least she could be sure he probably wouldn’t die on her. Perhaps she should have had more faith from the start. When she’d woken from The Framework with all these memories of what she could have had with Phil, without knowing he had been there too, it had just been too much. She’d suddenly been faced with a vivid depiction of everything she’d missed out on because she’d been too afraid to take a chance. So, she’d done what she always did – she buried it.

And Daisy, AIDA had seen right through May to the core of a fact she could never admit the way Coulson did so easily. Daisy was the closest May would ever come to having a child. She’d tried a couple of times to tell Daisy that truth, or at least hint at it, but like with Coulson, she’d always found a something prevented the truth from coming out. But now, she and Daisy had a shared history, shared memories, in which they were a family. May wasn’t sure whether she was thankful, or angry at the interference. It was very likely both. What she couldn't begin to believe though, is that Daisy had needed her as much as she had needed Daisy.

“You didn’t know Daisy was real... did you?” Radcliffe surmised softly.

May didn’t have time to respond before everything went black.

 

* * *

 

 

“May? Hey, May?” Coulson studied her features as her eyelids began to flutter.

“Phil?” A rogue tear had trailed it’s way down May’s cheek. “You were there. Daisy... we were...”

“I know, Melinda. I know.” Phil said, gently wiping away the tear. “Can you stand?” Coulson handed the probe from May’s head over to Fitz.

“I need to speak to Daisy.” May continued, standing up, more coherent this time.

“I know, but first we have to find her.” Coulson grasped May by the shoulders. “She went after AIDA.”

May stepped back a little, almost falling back into the chair, her eyes fully focused on his now.

Phil answered her silent question, “She went after AIDA _alone_.”

 

* * *

 _please follow me at_ [ _@daisyqiaolainmay_ ](http://daisyqiaolianmay.tumblr.com/) _on tumblr! i'm taking prompts_

* * *

 


	5. Part 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The truth comes out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> um, so, it's been a while guys... like almost a year, but here it is, the final chapter. pretty fluffy (for me anyway) because i dumped a ton of angst in the earlier chapters. you can thank @marvelthismarvel for encouraging me to finish a fic for once in my life!

 

 

There was a searing pain in her side, and she could feel that warm, sickening, slickness in between her fingers when she lifted her hand to it. She was bleeding, badly. She didn’t open her eyes to see how much she’d already lost. She didn't want to know, and her lids had never felt heavier. She just wanted to fall asleep, but she knew if she did she’d never wake up again. The others would never forgive her. Her mom would be so angry. Daisy wondered if real May would be just as angry.

 

AIDA was dead, at least, if you could even call it that. Quaked apart and scattered around her. The head had rolled off to the right, facing Daisy. Finding the empty eyes of the android, Daisy began to weep. It didn’t fix it, taking revenge, seeing AIDA lying just as broken as Daisy still felt on the inside, it didn’t make anything whole again. It didn’t bring anyone back. The sobbing left her in even more pain, the tears running in rivers down her grimy cheeks, collecting the dust and flecks of blood, catching in the damp hair at the nape of her neck. Every inch of her ached, the pain and the tears only tiring her further. Sending out a silent apology to her friends, she went to sleep.

 

* * *

 

May was the second person to get to Daisy’s side, falling to her knees, placing her hands on either side of  face of Daisy's face. There was jarring pain as she hit the ground, but May was was too distracted to do so much as wince.

 

“Jemma?” Coulson cried out, his voice strained, hand placed on a wadded up piece of fabric he’d pressed to Daisy’s wound. It was already soaked in blood.

 

May couldn’t take her eyes of Daisy’s face, streaked with blood, dust, and tear tracks. She lifted a finger to wipe away a lingering tear from Daisy's jaw. She mustn't have been unconscious long then. Keeping her eyes up, May couldn’t bear to look down. She knew Daisy was bleeding from the right side of her abdomen, and she also knew Phil couldn’t do more than he was; there was nothing more either of them could do.

 

“Please wake up, Máomao. Xià lǎozi yī tiào?” May choked through gritted teeth, fighting the urge to shake Daisy. She held onto this, onto knowing Daisy was the only one who could understand her, if she could even hear. _‘What the hell were you thinking?’_

 

Daisy’s eyes fluttered open, unfocused. “Mom?” The word was mumbled.

 

Phil lifted his gaze from Daisy’s wound to regard May, but she didn’t look back.

 

“I’m here. Stay awake, Daisy, we’re here.” May stroked rogue strands of hair back from Daisy’s face. Tears welled, unable to be held in.

 

“Am I dead?” Daisy croaked. She was seriously out of it, her gaze unfocused, words slurred.

 

“No, Angel, you’re not dead.” Phil didn’t take his left hand off her wound, still trying to stem the bleeding, but reached up with his free hand to stroke her cheek.

 

Daisy sighed shakily, her eyes rolling back in her skull.

 

“No, Daisy. Daisy! Stay awake.” May yelled. “Jemma?”

 

Jemma appeared by them, frantic and clutching a radio. She’d been trying to contact base. “She’s very pale and sweating badly. I think she’s gone into hemorrhagic shock.”

* * *

 

Daisy was in and out of consciousness as Jemma and Fitz prepared her for surgery as quickly as possible. Coulson sitting dejectedly close by, looking completely drained, like he might pass out himself. Daisy was only usually awake for fractions of a second, eyelids fluttering. May stroked the hair back from her face, she had some small cuts and grazes around her brow, chin, and nose, and a fantastic split lip, but nothing too scary. What scared May more was the pallid nature of her skin and the vacant look in her eyes.

 

Jemma dosed Daisy up with painkillers before she put her to sleep for the procedure. A minute or too passed while they waited to check the anaesthesia was working.

 

As she fell asleep Daisy somehow managed to look up at Melinda with a momentary true intensity as she murmured something inaudible.

 

May brought her head down so her lips were beside Daisy’s ear. "I’m here, Máomao," Softly, so there was no chance of anyone else hearing.

 

Daisy rasped back lightly, shivering now, barely able to speak a word, "Mom… I’m… I’m sorry."

 

"You’re going to be okay." May let her lips brush Daisy’s cheekbone in an undetectable kiss.

 

"Are you real?" A tear fell from Daisy’s right eye, trailing its way down her cheek.

 

"I’m real." May brought her face close to Daisy, so that their noses were almost touching. An involuntary tear fell from May’s eye onto Daisy cheek, and she didn’t even bother to give a thought to how strange this might look to Jemma if she was paying attention. This same girl had been a part of her since she’d arrived on Melinda May’s doorstep two decades ago. The facts might be a lie but the emotions and the connection she felt, that wasn’t. It was as real as they were.

 

Daisy’s eyelids began to droop then, the anaesthesia kicking in. May wasn’t sur she was even conscious enough to hear what she said next, but she said it anyway.

 

"I’ve always been real."

 

* * *

 

“I want to tell you everything. Everything I never said, in this life, or the other one."May found it hard even now to say what she wanted to say. "Even when I was your mom I didn’t say enough. But, you knew I loved you… didn’t you?”

 

May pursed her lips. She wasn’t used to speaking frankly, but this situation was unprecedented, and she was so overtired… She hadn’t slept properly in a couple of days now. Jemma had tried to get to leave Daisy’s side, but she’d refused every time. Phil visited a lot, making sure she ate, bringing cups of tea, sitting with her.

 

Jemma had said she didn’t know when Daisy was going to wake up. May was terrified something else would go wrong, that they would find out the damage to Daisy’s kidney was more extensive, or she’d go into septic shock. It was stupid, Jemma said Daisy was getting better, but she hadn’t woken up yet, and that scared May.

 

“You never listened to what they said, about where you came from. I think we always knew, both of us.” May roughly swept away a tear from her chin, and curled her hand under her daughter’s where it lay on top of the blanket. Ignoring all the wires and tubes and the continuous beeping of the monitor. It was just them, Daisy’s heart was still beating, and that was what mattered for now. May lowered her voice to a whisper. “You were _always_ mine.”

 

_The Framework - December 1997_

 

_‘If I see that light on when I come up later I’ll get Grandma to babysit this Friday instead of Phil.” Melinda threatened._

 

_Daisy rolled her eyes and adjusted her pillows. ‘Night. Love you, Mom.’_

 

_May stilled, with her hand still resting on the handle. Turning back slowly, she saw Daisy was already tucked under the sheets. There was no recognition for what had just passed. Like it was natural, nothing at all new._

 

 _“Love you too,_ _Máomao.” Melinda said softly, closing the door behind herself. She got all the way downstairs to the kitchen, still processing, beginning to clear up the kitchen, and then smiled to herself in the dim light._

 

* * *

 

 

May was asleep in the chair by Daisy’s head when Coulson visited later. Once, back in The Framework, he’d come home after a month away handling an undercover op, to find Daisy asleep next to Melinda in his side their bed. She was supposed to be at the Academy, but it was a weekend. He supposed, while he’d been away, she’d been staying around more to keep her Mom company. It was about 4am, and he hadn’t wanted to wake them, so he’d tried to leave as quietly as possible.

 

_The Framework - May 2008_

 

_‘Dad?’ Her voice was heavy and low with sleep._

 

_‘Go back to sleep, Angel. We can talk tomorrow.’ Phil promised._

 

_‘Dad.’ Daisy sighed, swinging her legs down onto the floor, and rising to greet him. She wrapped her arms tight around him, and pressed her face into his shoulder. It had been a while since they’d seen each other, nearing on a month, between her being at the academy and him being away on assignments._

 

_She’d been calling him Dad for about a year at this point, just before he’d moved in, and he’d got used to introducing her to people as his daughter. They'd slipped into it kind of naturally. It had been a joke at first, it had been a joke for forever actually, and then it'd been an accident, a freudian slip, but it had stuck eventually. He supposed, that had always been exactly who he was. He done all the stuff; looked after her when she was sick, helped her with homework, he’d even stared down her prom date when the time had come for that._

 

_He placed his hand on the back of Daisy’s head, and dug his fingers gently into her hair. He’d missed this. ‘Don’t wake your Mom.’ He whispered._

 

Phil maneuvered himself around Daisy’s bed carefully and quietly, so as not to wake Melinda. She hadn’t been getting much sleep, and he’d feel incredibly guilty for the rest of the day if he woke her.

 

He’d come clean with everyone the night after Daisy went after AIDA. Phil had felt he had to explain to Fitzsimmons how he’d worked out The Framework was a singular entity when they hadn't even been sure themselves, and the rest of it had just come out too. May wasn’t there for the explanation, she’d stayed with Daisy while Coulson dealt with telling the team. Phil told himself he was glad, that it would have been awkward for May to be there while he told their subordinates about their… family, what they’d been to each other in The Framework. There was a part of him, however, that thought it would have opened up a conversation, that they might then talk about what had happened between them, or… what hadn’t happened, but what was now obvious they both wished had happened.

 

* * *

 

 

_The Framework - March 2017_

 

_‘Hey, step off the gas. Police already secured the scene.’ Trip laughed nervously from the passenger seat._

 

_Daisy did step off, but not by much. She was stressed. Her mom and dad were abroad on a particularly lengthy mission, which always freaked her out a bit, no matter how many times they did it. Then, there was the fact her ex had been in the same meeting as her this morning, and it had totally thrown her off her game when it came to presenting her report to Maria Hill and the other senior agents._

 

_‘Sorry,’ Daisy said, unconvincingly, through gritted teeth._

 

_‘This about Ward?’ Trip asked, voice low, so the others in the back of the van wouldn’t overhear._

 

_‘He was glowering at me the whole way through that stupid meeting, even Maria noticed.’  Daisy said._

 

_‘Don’t let him get in your head, Dais. He’s just bummed you dumped his robot ass.’ Trip flashed his perfect teeth and leant back in his seat, arms crossed. ‘Dudes are just like that.’_

 

_‘It’s been a year already, shouldn’t he be over it? Anyway, you weren’t.’ Daisy sighed. ‘Thanks for that that by the way.’_

 

_Daisy had dated Trip for a very chilled four months at the Academy. They’d worked amazing together, the perfect team, and Daisy could never say she didn’t find Trip attractive, but they’d just worked so much better as friends. Daisy was pretty sure it was just the pressure from some of her friends to date Trip that had led to them being together in the first place._

 

_‘Thanks for not harassing you? I guess the bar is low for…” Trip trailed off, puzzled. ‘Wait, hold up, I dumped you.’_

 

_‘Yeah, that’s what you told people.’ Daisy teased, turning into their destination as Trip laughed again, even harder this time._

 

_‘Agents?’ The Detective approached them as soon as they stepped under the tape. ‘Detective Yeun,’ He introduced himself. ‘We have your man in custody, but the device is still inside.’_

 

_‘Everyone evacuated?’ Trip inquired, surveying the building with his hands on his hips over his leather jacket._

 

_‘Only the top 5 floors, surrounding where the device was placed. I mean… it is a hospital. It’s hard to evacuate, thankfully the ICU is much further down.’ The Detective looked uncomfortable._

 

_‘Our Agents will take over. Thanks for all your help, Detective. Can you get some of your officers to try and move the crowd back?’ It was a demand, but she knew to phrase it like a request. She needed the police department’s co-operation. They couldn’t be sure what the device was until they had S.H.I.E.L.D scientists on the floor, even then it was difficult with alien tech, and she didn’t want to take the risk of hundreds of civilians being so close to the building if it blew. It was bad enough they still had patients inside._

 

_The Detective nodded, and jogged off back to his people._

 

_‘We going in?’ Trip rested his hand on his gun._

 

_‘Always.’ Daisy furrowed her brow, looking up at the towering building in front of her. Silently glad it was one of the top floors. Hopefully that meant if there was an explosion it wouldn’t damage the structural integrity of the hospital too badly._

 

_The device was glowing a eerie blue light, sat right in the center of one of the hallways when the doors of the elevator opened. And It wasn’t alone. There was a man, she couldn’t see his face, but he sported messy blonde hair, and blue scrubs. He was crouched over it. His hands hovering over it, tiny trails of bright, wild electricity stretching from his palms to the very core of it. Daisy’s eyes widened. Pulling her gun from it’s holster she pointed it right at his chest._

 

_‘Sir, step away from the device.’ Daisy yelled. Trip was right beside her, pointing his gun identically._

 

_‘Sorry, I can’t do that. If I do this thing’ll blow.’ The man didn’t look up, concentrating intently._

 

_‘How do we know you doing that isn’t what’s gonna make it blow?’ It was a rational question Trip asked. One Daisy had been ready to ask herself._

 

_‘Guess you’ll just have to trust me.’ The man, either a doctor, or someone who’d stolen a doctor’s scrubs, still didn’t look up._

 

_Slowly, surely, the unsettling blue light began to dim down to a spark. The man rose, closing his fists tightly, and finally looking up._

 

_‘Sir, I apologise but I’m going to have to arrest you now.’ Daisy said curtly. ‘Please step toward me, and state your name.’_

 

_‘Lincoln. Doctor Lincoln Campbell.’ Lincoln said, hands raised, walking slowly toward her._

 

_So he was a doctor. In her peripheral Daisy saw Trip crouch to unlock a case containing  a Dwarf, so it could do some general diagnostics before they attempted to pick up the device. Lincoln had rested his hands on the back of his head. As Daisy reached up to grab his wrist, to put him in cuffs, she saw it. The blue light. The center of the device began to throb with a light that was brighter and paler than it had been before._

 

_Daisy swore, shoving Lincoln into the elevator and to the ground. ‘Get down!’ She slammed the ‘close doors’ button behind herself and Trip, before she threw herself to the ground. Hitting her head, she groaned. The doors closed just in time. A blast rang out, shaking the metal cabin._

 

_Daisy, clutching her head where it was now bleeding a little, found Lincoln’s face. He looked, possibly, more shocked and shaken than she did._

 

_‘I really thought that would work.’ He muttered, more to himself than her or Trip it seemed, pushing himself into a sitting position. He found her gaze, and noticed the wound of her head. ‘You’re hurt.’ Reaching out he brushed a thumb against the hair covering the cut, trying to get a better look._

 

_Daisy sat up, pulling away, surprised more than offended._

 

_‘You okay, Dais? Still seeing straight?’ Trip put a reassuring hand on her shoulder._

 

_‘Yeah, thanks.’ Daisy brushed Trip off. Lincoln had averted his eyes, suddenly very preoccupied with a very particular section of the floor._

 

* * *

 

 

“Do you think she’s dreaming?” Coulson said as he adjusted the blankets over Daisy's arms, like he was making sure she wouldn’t get cold, though he knew she wasn’t awake to feel it.

 

“As long as it’s not nightmares.” May said, a little too bitterly.

 

“Can we talk?” Phil asked bluntly. There was no point in trying to escape this, not that he couldn’t if he wanted too, but it was childish for them to continue on as if nothing had changed. As if both of them didn’t remember a life where they had been romantically involved for years, shared a home for over a decade, arguably raised a daughter together.

 

“I can’t Phil… not while Daisy’s like this…” May could barely get it out, partly because she wasn’t sure what to say, but also because she wasn’t sure why she was saying it. Perhaps she was just a coward? She thought maybe she’d always been a bit of a coward when it came to Phil.

 

“I want to sort this out for Daisy too” He pleaded with her, finally finding the courage to meet her eyes; boring into them. The look in hers broke his heart a hundred times over. He’d seen her this vulnerable only a small amount of times in his life.

 

“Phil-” May began.

 

“We’ve wasted so much time already.” He said firmly. “I don’t want to wait another twenty-five years for you, Melinda.”

 

…

_The Framework - April 2017_

 

_‘Here you go Mr Campbell. Or should I say Mr Coleridge.’ Daisy smiled down at him as she dropped a large brown envelope on the table in front of him. She took the seat opposite, picking up a menu, and pretending to read._

 

_Lincoln pulled the papers out their envelope. ‘So, they’re moving me to a hospital in Manhattan… you ever get assignments in New York, Agent?’_

 

_‘That’s classified.’ She smiled slightly, still pretending to browse._

 

_‘Ah…’ Lincoln actually looked a little crushed._

 

_At first she thought she’d been imagining it, that he was flirting with her, but after a few weeks of seeing him frequently she was sure he was. He wasn’t exactly subtle, not anymore anyway._

 

_‘I do have some family there though, so I might be in town sometimes.’ So they weren’t exactly ‘family’, but Clint was almost as good as, he was like a son to her dad, and Natasha was pretty close to Family too._

 

_‘Oh?’ Lincoln nodded._

 

_‘I was actually thinking about visiting soon,’ Daisy thought aloud, ‘it’s been kind of lonely here with my parents gone.’ It was only after she said it she realised she’d admitted something fairly personal._

 

_‘Gone?’ Lincoln looked genuinely worried._

 

_‘Oh, no, not that’ Daisy saw where his mind was headed and laughed awkwardly. ‘They’re just gone for work, but it’s unusual they’re gone this long.’ She clenched her jaw, and twisted her hands in her lap briefly before place them on the tabletop._

 

_Lincoln reached across the table and rested his warm hand over hers, curling his fingers gently around. ‘I’m sure they’ll be okay, Daisy.’_

 

_His eyes were so blue and intense, for a moment she really believed he knew they’d be okay. It made her feel better, for a while. He had one of those voices, that if you’re a doctor you’re lucky to have. The kind of voice that makes you sound utterly trustworthy. Almost on instinct, as if she’d been here before, she turned her palm upward so she could take his hand. She didn’t think the electricity she felt was him…_

 

_Remembering he was moving across the country today, her heart sank._

 

_Drawing her hand back into her lap, she said, ‘Car’s outside.’_

 

_‘Guess this is it.’ He shouldered his bag at security, turning back to her. The airport was pretty busy, and various strangers were milling around, but you wouldn’t know that looking at Lincoln. He didn’t look much of anywhere else but where Daisy was. His fingers gripped the handle of his carry-on a little too tightly._

 

_‘I’ll be seeing you, Mr Coleridge.’ Daisy told him, using his new name._

 

_He smiled at his shoes, then sighed, looking back up. ‘Okay.’ He steeled himself, turning away to head toward his plane._

 

_‘Lincoln.’ Daisy called._

 

_When he turned back around, she was a mere inch from his face and moving closer. He dropped his bag without a second thought, as her hands went to rest on his shoulders. Capturing his lips softly, she didn’t go too far, just in case he wasn’t as sure as her. She’d shouldn’t have worried. He wrapped an arm around her waist, and deepened the kiss. It felt wonderfully familiar, like it had happened a hundred thousand times before, in a past life or something. It was like coming home again, after you’d been away for far too long. How could she have missed something, when she’d never felt it before?  Maybe, when people said something ‘felt like fate’, this is what they meant._

 

_She ended it, suddenly aware they were in public. Pulling back, and tucking her hair behind her ear nervously._

 

_‘See you in New York.’ Lincoln was smiling stupidly at her._

 

_‘See you there.’ Daisy promised._

 

_He leant in and quickly brushed his lips against her cheekbone. If she’d known she’d never get to New York, she might have grabbed him right then, and kissed him again._

 

* * *

 

 

There was a warm, calloused hand stroking her head when she woke up. Her eyelids barely parting at first, like her brain had decided it still wasn’t ready to face the world, and was fighting consciousness. She wasn’t sure she was ready… she’d lost him. She’d lost him all over again. She’d lost them all. Trip... again, and then… Lincoln too. They’d barely even gotten started. She didn’t know if she could bear this. The few days she’d been back in the real world had already been agony, not being able to talk about it.

 

A hand was holding hers, gripping almost too tight, as if afraid Daisy would slip away. She cracked her eyes open a little wider, squinting into the fluorescent light above. She groaned.

 

“Daisy.”

 

It was was her Mom’s voice. Wait. May’s voice, Daisy reminded herself.

 

“Should I get Simmons?” Her dad said. No, Daisy clenched her jaw, it was Phil. No... Coulson. She called him Coulson here.

 

“My head feels like it’s been used as a punching bag.” Daisy croaked. She tried to sit up.

 

“No, don’t try to sit, Máomao.” May said softly, without thinking, leaning over to place her hands gently on Daisy’s shoulders.

 

Daisy did as she was told and lay back. Not yet registering what had just passed. May met Coulson’s heavy gaze, conflicted, this hadn’t been exactly how they wanted to do it, but at the same time neither of them wanted to drag out telling Daisy the truth. It hit home maybe half a second later, but it felt to May like an eternity had passed in that moment, waiting for Daisy to understand who she was to her.

 

Daisy sat bolt upright, with no regard for her injury, using her arms to steady her, staring at May intently. “You’ve never called me that before.”

 

May shared a nervous look with Coulson, before facing Daisy again. “We all know, I have.” Her eyes began to tear up, and she couldn’t hold Daisy’s gaze any longer. She’d almost never cried in front of Daisy, not even in The Framework.

 

Daisy swallowed roughly. What was this? Had they…

 

“Were we in there together? Was that…” She trailed off. _‘Was that really you?’_ She still had her Mom, she was here, everything Daisy remembered May remembered too.

 

“Yes.” Phil said.

 

“So, you remember it all the same? Exactly-”

 

“-the same.” Phil finished for her.

 

Daisy burst into tears, her mind racing, and somehow numb at the same time.

 

May gathered Daisy up into her arms. The same as she had when Daisy was small, when she was eight and she’d fallen over and grazed her knee, or fallen out with one of her friends. She buried her face in Daisy's hair. Everything May had been holding in for days was bubbling up and spilling over, and the tears fell.

 

“I thought I’d lost everyone.” Daisy sobbed, her voice muffled as her hair remained tucked into the folds of May’s shirt. Clutching her back just a tight.

 

“Oh, Angel.” Phil said, moving closer and stroking her hair, as Daisy’s face emerged, a little pink, with visible tear tracks.

 

“It was like everyone had died all over again; Lincoln. He just seemed so real. And Trip.” Daisy wiped at her red-rimmed eyes, not doing much. “I thought I’d lost my whole family.”

 

“No.” May said firmly. She wasn’t going anywhere.

 

“I just… love you both, so much.” Daisy sniffed. “I don’t think real me would admit that, but I don’t know if that’s who I am anymore. Who I was in The Framework, I…" she half-shrugged, "I liked that person.”

 

“I liked her too.” May smiled, pressing a kiss to Daisy’s hair. In a way she’d never done before, but also, she guessed, in a way she’d done a thousand times over.

 

“Those other people we were, Daisy, they are us, as much as who we were in this reality before The Framework. I don’t want to forget.” Phil said, eyes downcast. His hand fell from Daisy’s face. Phil met May’s eyes, a little unsure, but convinced it was worth the leap of faith, “I don’t think either of you want to forget either.”

 

“I can’t go around calling you guys Mom and Dad.” Daisy scoffed. “Can you imagine what the team would say?”

 

“They already know about what went down in there, Daisy.” Phil admitted. “I told them about a week ago.”

 

“Mo-” Daisy turned to May, nervously pulling back from the embrace they’d been in for a good minute. “I don’t want to make things… uncomfortable. It would be pretty hard to explain to… your parents why you suddenly have a twenty-eight year old calling you ‘Mom’.” Daisy gave her an easy out. It would take some getting used to, but she could deal with going back to calling her ‘May’.

 

“I’ll tell them the truth.” May decided. Her parents had dealt with some similarly weird situations when her Mom had been with the CIA. “They always wanted a granddaughter.”

 

Daisy smiled, then let a tiny laugh escape. Her face fell a moment, and it almost seemed like she might cry again. She was so confused by her emotions.

 

“I miss him. He was just like I remembered. He felt so real. They both did.” Daisy said, seemingly out of the blue. Every time she felt happy, she remembered Lincoln, and Trip, and it was like a punch to the gut.

 

“You were blessed, to get a little extra time with him Daisy, with both of them, but…”

 

“I know.” Daisy sniffed, and sighed. She’d spent so much time grieving, and she knew she couldn’t fall into that same darkness again. She wasn’t sure she’d survive this time. “I have to let him go.”

 

“You know it’s what he’d want.” Phil said softly.

 

Daisy nodded, her features twisted into a deep frown by the pain of it, of missing him afresh. Her eyes glistened with tears she didn’t want to cry. She’d accepted long ago she’d be crying over Lincoln for the rest of her life, but she had thought the worst of it was over. As it turned out it hadn’t been, but she knew that this time, she couldn’t let it swallow her.

 

“Please don’t start crying again, because then I will too.” May said under her breath.

 

Daisy laughed, and leant her head back against May’s shoulder.

 

* * *

 

_5 weeks later…_

 

While Framework Daisy did eat breakfast before getting washed up, that didn’t really fly on the base. She kind of missed being able to go sit at a counter in her pajamas, and watch her dad make breakfast. However, one day, if she got lucky, when she walked into the Rec room, after training, fully washed and dressed, he might be flipping some pancakes. She didn’t have to worry about all that too much at the moment though, about the whole being up early to train thing; she was allowed to be a bit more sloppy while she was still healing. If May had her way Daisy would be in bed all day.

 

“Morning!” Simmons said cheerily, as Daisy entered the Rec room. She was busy pouring herself a cup of tea.

 

It had been about 9 am when Daisy had rolled out of bed, which was later than she’d ever slept in The Framework, but she’d fallen into the habit while she was recuperating. So it was about 9:30 now. Jemma was usually in the lab at this time of day.

 

“Morning. The coffee still hot?”

 

“Coulson made a fresh one for you. He said you’d be up around now.” Jemma said, a little pointedly, smirking at Daisy.

 

The sound of multiple footfall and people bickering echoed through the hallways, reaching Daisy muffled and distorted. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Daisy warmed her hands on it as she moved over to the doorway to see what was going on.

 

Fitz seemed to he herding the rest of the team down the corridor, carrying a fairly large cardboard box in his arms. Mack and Yoyo seemed nonplussed, as if this were normal, whereas May did not look impressed at all.

 

“Hey.” May greeted her daughter, stroking Daisy arm and then placing a hand on her shoulder to direct her back into the Rec room. “You sleep okay?”

 

“Surprised you didn’t hear me snoring.” Daisy smiled, lifting her coffee to her lips so she could take a sip. It was boiling, Coulson had been on the mark knowing exactly when she’d surface, perhaps too on the mark.

 

“What’s this about then?” Coulson asked. He arrived looking no more in the know than May or Daisy were.

 

“Sit, please.” Jemma motioned for the three of them to take a seat on the couch. Polite, even when demanding.

 

They did as they were told, and Daisy ended up wedged in the middle, still clutching her coffee.

 

“Well,” Fitz began, “Christmas is coming up, but since we’re not going to be here for actual christmas day-”

 

“We’re giving you your present now!” Jemma finished for him, excitedly.

 

“Present. Singular?” Coulson asked, intrigued.

 

“You’ll see.” Elena promised him from where she standing beside Mack with her arms folded, a knowing look in her eyes.

 

“Turbo was the brains behind it.” Mack said, clapping Fitz on the back.

 

“Well, I ...I think we all had a part of play but… uh…” Fitz bent down to pick up the cardboard box he’d brought in with him once again, “I did pioneer the method we used to get them.”

 

“Get them?” Daisy repeated.

 

“You’re killing us here, Fitz.” May added.

 

“Right.” Fitz brought the box forward.

 

“We would have wrapped it, but we couldn’t find wrapping paper. I tried to find a bow but-”

 

“It’s fine Jemma.” Coulson reassured her, smiling.

 

Daisy shared a look with her parents, getting a nod from Coulson. She leant down and ripped off the thick tape that had been used to secure whatever was inside.

 

“Are these…?” Daisy trailed off, suddenly breathless, as she lifted out the content of the box.

 

Coulson lifted his gaze to study the faces of the rest of the team. They were all wearing various proud smiles.

 

Daisy opened the large family album she now had on her lap, and ran her index finger over an early photo; May and her on her ninth birthday. She breathed in sharply, confused beyond measure. Turning the page to find a picture she remembered sitting on a mantlepiece of her childhood home. Coulson and May flanking her as she sat in front of her rainbow-themed birthday cake, candles still burning. But, this had never happened, not anywhere but in their minds.

 

“How?” May got there first.

 

“When I got you guys out, I don’t think I made it clear that I didn’t delete The Framework. It’s more like, I paused it.” Fitz explained it as basically as he could, rubbing the back of his neck. “It took a while to isolate the code, but The Framework was essentially built to project an image, so after that it was just finding a way to project that image onto a screen, rather than into a human mind.”

 

Daisy wanted to look further, but she thought she should save it till it was just the three of them. There were two more albums, no doubt documenting everything, every year she’d been with May and Coulson in The Framework. All those birthdays, chinese new years, average new years, thanksgivings, hanukkah's, May and Andrew’s wedding, prom, high school graduation, moving out, her academy graduation.

 

Mack held up his hand, complete with the large brown envelope he’d almost forgotten he was holding. “And there’s this.” He offered it to May. “It’s legal, but even if you never use it, Yoyo thought it would make a nice keepsake.” Mack put his arm around Elena as he said it.

 

May slipped her finger under the seal to break it, and teased out a official-looking piece of paper. She sighed, smiling and nodding. “It’s your birth certificate.” She showed it to Daisy.

 

“We know you still want to go by Johnson,” Simmons said. “But just in case you want to use May as your legal name, you can.”

 

Daisy had decided to still go by Johnson for a few reasons. One was that she didn’t want to forget Cal completely, even though he’d never been much a real father to her... he had loved her, and that had to count for something. The other reason was, practically, it would get very confusing if there were two Agent May’s walking around. This might be a nice solution though. To use Johnson in the field, and May privately.

 

Daisy looked to see how her mom was reacting, only to see the woman frowning down at the certificate in confusion. Curious, Daisy began to examine the certificate herself.

 

“Was… was Dad’s name on there before?” Daisy asked.

 

“No.” May said bluntly.

 

Coulson leant over them to a get a look, his eyes lit up. There he was, under _‘Father’_ , his name; ‘ _Phillip Jacob Coulson’_. “Would you look at that.” He muttered.

 

“I took a little artistic liberty.” Simmons explained, anxiously rocking on her feet with her arms folded.

 

Daisy stood, putting the album back in it’s box, and crossed the floor to pull both Fitz and Simmons into a hug. “Thank you.” She squeezed them tight, then moved onto Mack and Elena, hugging them individually, and just a tightly. “Thank you.”

 

When she turned back to regard her parents, they were still examining the birth certificate. May’s hand crept from her lap to grip Coulson’s where it rested on the cushions. He didn’t stop looking at the certificate. He just turned his hand over so he could hold her back.

 

Daisy smiled to herself. This felt like how it was meant to be. They were going to be okay now.

 

* * *

 _please follow me at_ [_@daisyqiaolainmay_  ](http://daisyqiaolianmay.tumblr.com/) _on tumblr! i'm taking prompts_

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